GATEKEEPERS, THE – AGENTS OF CHANGE
Senior secret agents from Israel’s Shin Bet come out of the dark to defy official policy on the Israel – Palestine conflict in a film by Dror Moreh that could well be an agent of change, as Andrew L. Urban reports.

GAYS IN AUSTRALIAN CINEMA
In this post-Mardi Gras essay, PETER LOWNDES explores the treatment of gays in
Australian cinema, from 1938 on, and finds that it’s not if, but how. (Pic: Priscilla)

GEORGE LUCAS - KID WITHOUT TOYS
The man who single handedly made movie tie-in merchandise as successful a franchise as McDonalds, George Lucas has not one furry ewok, fuzzy wookie, stormtrooper uniform or mock lightsabre, at his Skywalker Ranch, reports Katherine Tulich in the latest issue of Australia’s DVD monthly, Region 4 magazine.

GERMAN FILM FESTIVAL 2005 – PREVIEW
Is it by coincidence that this year’s Festival of German Films again includes a major new work about Hitler, this time the Oscar nominated Downfall? Following last year’s Valkyrie, about the plot to assassinate him, Downfall meticulously recreates his last days in the bunker. It will cast a strong shadow over the festival program, reports Andrew L. Urban.

GERMAN FILM FESTIVAL 2007 – PREVIEW
Strange bedfellows and forbidden relationships it appears have been occupying
the minds of German filmmakers if this year’s Festival of German Films (Sydney,
Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, April 19 – 29) is any indication. The festival
includes the unlikely pairing of an elderly music teacher with a prisoner in for
murder, who is also a gifted pianist, in Four Minutes; a German nurse with an
English pilot in Dresden; and a glamorous model with a car park attendant in
Valerie.

GERMAN FILM FESTIVAL 2008
Oscar winning Austrian/German drama, The Counterfeiters, is one of the
highlights of this year’s Festival of German Films, along with some tuff stuff
as well as crowd pleasing comedies, reports Andrew L. Urban.

GERMAN FILM FESTIVAL 2009 – PREVIEW
Marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, this year’s German
Film Festival includes six films from the former GDR among its program of 30
films, as well as sex-traffic drama, Trade, one of three films in the program -
his first in English - by Marco Kreuzpaintner. Andrew L. Urban reports.

GERMAN FILM FESTIVAL 2010 - PREVIEW
Vibrant and varied, German cinema is riding a wave of popular and critical
success – and this festival is a showcase to some of its offerings, ranging from
the Opening Night comedy Whisky With Vodka about an actor in crisis, through the
Oscar winning and astringent The White Ribbon to the sensuous relationship drama
of unlikely love, in Aimée and Jaguar. And then there is young Adolf …. Andrew
L. Urban reports.

GERMAN FILM FESTIVAL 2013 – PREVIEW
The 12th annual Audi Festival of German Films will showcase 45 award-winning films and documentaries from thrillers to comedies and critically acclaimed dramas across eight cities throughout the first two weeks of May, and, for the first time, will include Newcastle and Byron Bay.

GERMAN FILMS FESTIVAL 2004 - PREVIEW
Operation Valkyrie, a fresh look by German filmmaker Jo Baier at the attempted assassination of Adolf Hitler in July 1944, is a highlight of this month’s Festival of German Cinema, in which the moral status of Lieutenant Claus von Stauffenberg and other high-ranking army officers is reappraised. Baier is one of the special guests of the Festival, as Andrew L. Urban reports.

GHOST DOG
There are no heroes or villains, no classifications of
"good" or "evil," only characters, sampled
DJ-fashion through historic and cultural references, says
American film critic CRISSA-JEAN CHAPPELL, as she explores Jim
Jarmusch's latest film, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.

GHOSTS... OF THE CIVIL DEAD
Re-released on video this month, Ghosts . . . of the Civil Dead is one of
Australian cinema’s most confronting and disturbing feature films, and one that has
received relatively little attention in the list of our movie achievements. Is it too
shocking, asks Andrew L. Urban.

GIANT: THEY DON'T MAKE 'EM ANY MORE
Featuring three great stars at the peak of their careers – Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean - and a legendary director – George Stevens - who won an Oscar for the film, Giant (1956) is now available on DVD (with a disc-full of extra features). Nick Roddick gets all nostalgic about a movie that really is like they don't make 'em any more.

GIGER OF GRUYÈRES - ALIEN
It’s a steep walk from Gruyères railway station to the historic Swiss hilltop
village of Gruyères, world famous for its cheese. But Gruyères (population 300)
has a dark secret which only the most curious – or well informed – will
discover: the gallery of H. R. Giger, Oscar winning designer of ‘the bitch’ in
Alien and other things similarly subversive, erotic, fantastic and out of this
world, as Andrew L. Urban discovers.

GIRLS NIGHT
Girls’ Night is a film about friendship. And, with Julie Walters and Brenda Blethyn
starring in their first movie together, the laughs are plentiful. But the story has
another, sadder theme - one that films, let alone comedies, rarely deal with. By Jo Nicholas.

GLADIATOR - FICTION WITH FACTS
A word or two by Oscar Hillerstrom * on the historical accuracy of Gladiator - it's not a
true story - nor does it claim to be - but it is authentic and reveals much that is
factual about the old Romans and their society.

GLADIATOR - RUSSELL THE MUSCLE
Starring in Gladiator as Maximus, Russell Crowe has gone from playing a paunchy, middle-aged man in
The Insider to a Roman gladiator; "not bad," quips director Ridley Scott.
"In other words, he's a real actor. Russell has an uncanny way of internalising a
role, and he's naturally very physical, which was a perfect combination for the
part."

GO THE NET! FILMMAKERS WANTED
In response to our story last week about the growing demand
for content on the internet, Mark Muggeridge, Head of Film &
Video Production at Brainwaave Interactive (pictured with Puppet newsreader), says it’s a
great new medium for filmmakers.

GODFATHER, THE – THE COPPOLA RESTORATION
We walked up the black carpet towards the ornate marble lobby of Sydney’s State
Theatre, each of us clutching a single red rose – just like the mourners
at the funeral of Don Vito Corleone, The Godfather. But this was no funeral: it
was more like a resurrection, a celebration of the restoration of one of
cinema’s crowning glories, The Godfather Trilogy. Andrew L. Urban reports on the
world premiere screening of the restored 35 mm print of the 1972 Best Picture
Oscar, marking the release of The Coppola Restoration.

GODFREY REGGIO’S VISITORS LETS US WATCH THE WATCHERS
The Toronto Symphony performed Philip Glass’ score for Visitors live, at the film’s world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, in September 2013. But the film had its commercial premiere at the end of February, 2014 in Ottowa – and Joyce MacPhee* was there for the first night.

GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS 2001: THE WINNERS
The 89 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association are clearly collectively
delighted with the quality of competing films this year, spraying major awards around like
confetti: Gladiator, Almost Famous, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Traffic, Cast Away, O
Brother Where Art Thou and Erin Brockovich all take home one big award. See below for full
list of movie award winners.

GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS 2002 – THE NOMINEES
The Golden Globes may as well be renamed the Gold ‘n Greens this year, with
several Australians prominently nominated in key categories; but let’s not get too
nationalistic. What matters most is the quality of the work, not the nationality of the
nominee, writes Andrew L. Urban.

GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS 2002: WINNERS
In the lead up to this year’s Golden Globes, at least two mass circulation
newspapers in Sydney questioned the credibility of these awards; just who are the members
of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and are they susceptible to influence? But,
argues Andrew L. Urban, credibility is not the point. Perception is.

GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS 2014 - WINNERS
Two diametrically opposed movies taken from American history over 100 years apart – 12 Years a Slave* & American Hustle - were voted Best by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in the Golden Globes, with Cate Blanchett winning the Globe for Best Actress for her role in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine – not long after Allen was honoured with the Cecil B. De Mille Award.

GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS – 2005
With all the quirks and illogicalities of these Awards intact, the Nominees for the 62nd Golden Globes (January 16, 2005) are ready to be pored over during the Christmas break, as Hollywood and the rest of the movie world shifts through the lists for portents of more bright things to come. In the absence of LOTR for the first time in three years, the fields are wide open and the hills are alive … reports Andrew L. Urban.

GOLDEN GLOBE WINNERS – 2005
The Hollywood Foreign Press throw a good party, but in what is admittedly a tough year – with excellent competitors in several categories – it has surprised most of us in the business of watching the film industry by awarding the Best Supporting Actress Award to the beautiful and talented Natalie Portman; instead of the beautiful and talented Cate Blanchett. And it’s not the only surprise, reports Andrew L. Urban.

GOLDEN GLOBE WINNERS: JAN 99
"I thought my heart was going to stop . . . I thought there must have been some mistake…" - Cate Blanchett after winning her Golden Globe award.
At the 56th Golden Globes, Cate Blanchett won the award for Best Actress
(drama), for her role in Elizabeth. Shakespeare in Love and Saving Private Ryan were the
big winners, taking out the awards for Best comedy/musical and Best Drama. See list of winners

GOLDEN GLOBES 2003 – THE WINNERS
The movie critics of the foreign press in Hollywood – and that includes a couple of Australians working there – have voted The Hours Best Drama, with Nicole Kidman Best Actress, and Chicago Best Musical/Comedy in the 60th Golden Globes, rewarding Nicole for not being afraid to tackle Virginia Woolf’s hook-nosed, grumpy, unsociable and suicidal character. Andrew L. Urban reports.

GOLDEN GLOBES 2006 – NOMINATIONS
Clint Eastwood is nominated twice for Best Director for his duo of WWII films,
and Leonardo DiCaprio twice as Best Actor for Blood Diamond and The Departed –
while two of the nominees in the Foreign Language category are in fact US films:
Apocalypto (Mel Gibson) and Letters from Iwo Jima, giving Clint Eastwood his
third nom. George Miller’s Happy Feet is a nominee for Best Animated Film and
Cate Blanchett is up for a Supporting Actress award for Notes on a Scandal… And
The Queen reigns.

GOLDEN GLOBES 2007 – WINNERS
Plenty of disagreements at post-Globes parties are guaranteed by this year’s
results in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s awards, although not at
Martin Scorsese’s party, where the veteran director no doubt has the winner’s
smile firmly in place as Best Director, although Babel was voted Best Film.
Andrew L. Urban reports.

GOLDEN GLOBES 2008 – NOMINATIONS
Atonement is much admired by the 80 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press
Association, who have voted it for seven awards including Best Drama, where the
category has been expanded to seven nominations. Andrew L. Urban reports.

GOLDEN GLOBES 2008 – WINNERS
Atonement has converted each of its seven nominations, including Best Drama,
into a Golden Globe at last weekend’s 35 minute announcement no-show*; and
Sweeney Todd; The Demon Barber of Fleet Street was voted Best Musical/ or
Comedy, while Julie Christie was a sentimental (surprise) winner for Away From
Her, 32 years after her last GG nomination (for Shampoo). But Cate Blanchett did
win Best Supporting Award for I’m Not There. Andrew L. Urban reports.

GOLDEN GLOBES 2009 - NOMINEES
Two of the five nominated directors and three of the five nominated writers are
British in this year’s nominations for Hollywood’s Golden Globe awards – but the
anomalies within the categories makes nonsense of the drama/comedy split. Andrew
L. Urban chuckles in the glow of the Globes.

GOLDEN GLOBES 2009 - WINNERS
They’re going nuts in Mumbai, said producer Christian Colson as he accepted
the Golden Globe for Best Drama, as Slumdog Millionaire won its fourth award for
the night, the film set and shot in Mumbai and made with many of the crew hired
in that city. And earlier, the Hollywood Foreign Press stayed true to
expectations and awarded Heath Ledger the award for Best Supporting Actor, for
his role as The Joker in The Dark Knight.

GOLDEN GLOBES 2010 – NOMINATIONS
You could say the Hollywood Foreign Press has picked its top 10 films of the
year with its nominations for best film in drama and musical/comedy categories,
and it’s hard to argue with their votes, at least in mainstream cinema for 2009,
says Andrew L. Urban.

GOLDEN GLOBES 2011 – NOMINATIONS
Maybe the biggest surprise of the Golden Globes nominations list is the choice of categories by some producers, such as action movie RED and spy thriller The Tourist, both entered in the Comedy/Musical section. But Aussies will be delighted by Jacki Weaver’s categorisation in Supporting Actress, even though she won the Best Lead Actress category here at home in last week’s AFI Awards. In the jargon of Hollywood, go figure, says Andrew L. Urban.

GOLDEN GLOBES 2011 – WINNERS
The one big thing that’s useful about the Golden Globes (as distinct from almost every other film award bash) is that there is a slot for sharing kudos among some key categories – doubling the number of nominees and winners in the big departments. This year the system allows for such great performances as those of Annette Bening and Natalie Portman, for instance, to be recognised. Likewise Colin Firth and Paul Giamatti; Andrew L. Urban reports.

GOLDEN GLOBES 2012 – NOMINATIONS
Steven Spielberg’s Christmas present has arrived: both his holiday films, War Horse and The Adventures of Tintin, have been nominated for Golden Globes, the former in the Best Drama category, the latter for Best Animation, while George Clooney and Woody Allen are also multiple nominees; but it’s a relatively small (but superbly made) black and white film, The Artist, that is creating hot buzz, with not only the most GG noms but also heavy with Screen Actors Guild noms. Andrew L. Urban reports.

GOLDEN GLOBES 2013 - NOMINATIONS
Aussie stars Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts and Hugh Jackman end the old year on a high and can look forward to a very happy, indeed glowing, new year – in the company of gold statuettes, ranging from the SAG and the Golden Globes to possibly an Oscar mention (noms announced Jan. 15), with all three getting much airplay in the nomination lists.

GOLDEN GLOBES 2015 - NOMINATIONS
Biographies and their lead cast – four of the five drama film nominations – dominate this year’s Golden Globes, while whimsy and fancy dominate – four of the five - comedy/musical film nominations.

GOLDEN GLOBES 2015 - WINNERS
George Clooney, recipient of the Cecil B De Mille Lifetime Achievement Award was not the only one to proclaim Je Suis Charlie at the Golden Globes Awards ceremony, held just hours after Paris and the world turned out in force to stand up against Islamic extremists.

GOLDEN GLOBES 2016 - WINNERS
The Martian won its Golden Globe for being the Best Comedy (who knew?) with Matt Damon voted Best Actor in a Comedy and The Revenant took the Globe for Best Drama, with Leonardo di Caprio voted Best Actor in a Drama. Jennifer Lawrence in Joy was Best Actress (Comedy) but the surprise was Brie Larson’s win for Room. No surprises, though, in host Ricky Gervais’ signature bad taste humour, a signature the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has come to embrace, giving him another chance to ridicule his audience.

GOLDEN GLOBES 2016 – NOMINEES
George Miller with Mad Max: Fury Road (Best Drama) and Cate Blanchett for her role in Carol (Best Actress) are the high profile Australians in the list of nominees for the Golden Globe Awards to be presented on January 10, 2016 in Los Angeles.

GOLDEN GLOBES AWARDS 2004 – NOMINATIONS
Cold Mountain has been nominated in eight drama categories in the Golden Globes, but is in the company of heavy competition for Best Drama with The Returns of The King, Master and Commander, Mystic River and Seabiscuit; and Lost in Translation has five in the Best Musical or Comedy category

GOLDEN GLOBES AWARDS 2004 – WINNERS
Peter Jackson and Bill Murray were the stars of this year’s Golden Globe awards presentation, the former showing he can accept the night’s major award with more grace and composure than many of the actors, while the latter gave a hilarious deadpan performance with barbed wire lines; Michael Douglas, honoured with the de Mille Award, also stood out. And the conflict of the night goes to …. Finding Nemo / Lost in Translation, both deserving but in different categories.

GOLDEN GLOBES AWARDS 2006 – WINNERS
The biggest surprise in the Golden Globe Awards for the films of 2005 is that
Walk the Line and The Squid and The Whale are both categorised as Musical or
Comedy, the former, a biopic of Johnny Cash but certainly no musical, winning
the award, with Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix also collecting Globes.
Can categories be so flexible, asks Andrew L. Urban, while applauding Brokeback
Mountain’s Award for Best Drama.

GOLDEN GLOBES NOMINATIONS 2002
It’s hardly news that in the Golden Globe awards for 2002 The Two Towers is a Best Drama nominee, or that Chicago is a Best Musical nominee; what IS news, however, is that the universally dissed theme song from Die Another Day by Madonna is among the nominated movie songs; maybe there weren’t enough to choose from?

GOLDEN GLOWS? (2001)
Luisa Browett reviews the Golden Globe Awards presentation and finds that black is back
(so is fruit), but the young ones are notable by absence, while golden oldies dominated
the telecast.

GOLDSTONE - DRAMA CHARGED THRILLER
In the Australian drama charged thriller, Goldstone, neo-Western meets outback-noir, moving to the beat of the sacred land, says its director, the ever-surprising and acclaimed Ivan Sen. “The issues raised in Goldstone rarely find their way into mainstream consciousness.”

GOMORRAH – THE SYSTEM ALWAYS WINS
The title Gomorrah is a play on the name of the ill-fated, decadent and
lawless city of the bible and the Italian word, Camorra, meaning ‘system’, and
the label by which the Naples criminal organisation – said to be bigger and more
powerful than Sicily’s Mafia - has become known. Andrew L. Urban reports.

GONE WITH THE WIND – 70TH ANNIVERSARY
Winner of 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture, and still history’s all time
US domestic box-office champion (US$1.5 billion), Gone with the Wind has long
been considered the most celebrated motion picture of all time. Warner Home
Video honours the romantic epic with a restored and remastered version,
available for the first time on Blu-ray, as well as DVD.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS
When veteran producer Art
Linson and Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón took on Charles
Dickens’ Great Expectations for Twentieth Century Fox, they
discovered a 19th-century classic with 20th-century appeal. Helen
Beck reports.

GREAT GATSBY, THE - WHOSE GATSBY IS IT?
Australia’s Baz Luhrmann has made a film adaptation of The Great Gatsby, screening as the Opening Night film at Cannes 2013. Almost two generations ago in 1974, it was an Englishman, Jack Clayton, filming F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, set in 1922 on Long Island, New York. But who can claim either film as theirs – or indeed either of two other adaptations? By Andrew L. Urban.

GRUMPY CAT
What does Grumpy Cat have to do with movies? Movie-related titles are on the top of Grumpy Cat’s reading list

GUY GROSS - THE GUY WITH THE MUSIC
Guy Gross has composed music for animated childrens films and sophisticated black comedies - and even for exotic fountains in casinos. He got his start in his father's film studio, but has carved his own track in the years since.